Tag Archives: City of Northfield

Zero degrees and windy, City of Northfield officials walk the Sechler Park mountain bike trail

L to R: Dale Gehring, Marty Larson (with his dog Lexy), Dave DeLong, Griff Wigley

City of Northfield Ward 2 Councilor David DeLong and Park & Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) Chair Dale Gehring walked the the Sechler Park mtb trail this afternoon, accompanied by yours truly and CROCT board chair Marty Larson.

The 1.5 hour hike of  about 3 miles (from the cul-de-sac behind Walgreen’s to the far pavilion and back) was a little challenging, as the temperature hovered around the zero degrees F mark with gusty northwest winds.

Marty and I wanted to give them a first-hand look at what CROCT volunteers have accomplished in Sechler Park since we got approval from the City to construct a mountain bike trail there last year. We’d like to add extensions and features to the trail this year, as well as install one or more trail head kiosks.  And we’re interested in discussing the possibilities of adding off-road trails and bike park features like pump tracks to other City of Northfield parks. (For example, see the CROCT blog posts about the Meadows Park community planning meetings.)

We’re not yet sure if Dave and Dale were impressed with what they saw, but given the weather conditions, it’s likely they’ll remember the experience.  😉

And on related note, Councilor Dave took a few spins around the River Bend Nature Center parking lot last Saturday on a fat bike during the RBNC Fat Bike Event. In case you missed the photos of him in the blog post/photo album:

City of Northfield Councilor David DeLong City of Northfield Councilor David DeLong

 

All three concept plans for Meadows Park could accommodate mountain biking

Meadows Park community meeting

Dave Berglund at Meadows Park community meeting Meadows Park community meeting

CROCT member Dave Berglund and I attended the second Meadows Park community planning on Wednesday night at the Northfield Middle School. (For background, see my blog post on the first meeting back in November titled Could mountain biking be part of Northfield’s new Meadows Park?

The good news: All three of the proposed concept plans presented by the consultants would accommodate a mountain bike trail around the perimeter of the park:

Meadows Park Concept Plan A: Prairie Potholes Meadows Park Concept Plan A: Meandering Streams Meadows Park Concept Plan A: Winter Wonderland

Meadows Park Concept Plans: unpaved/mountain biking trails

When the consultants asked for programming suggestions, I mentioned that a mountain bike XC trail there would provide:

  • a venue for members of the local high school/middle school mountain bike team to practice
  • another trail for us to host our Community Services Monday nights summer group rides for youth

The schedule calls for City Council approval of the park’s master plan by summer.

More photos from the meeting:

Could mountain biking be part of Northfield’s new Meadows Park?

Back in the summer of 2013, I blogged on Locally Grown Northfield about the mountain biking-related possibilities for Northfield’s new Meadows Park. So it was pretty cool to attend the City of Northfield‘s Meadows Park community planning meeting at the Northfield Middle School on Wednesday night and have mountain biking be mentioned by the consultants (Paul Miller Design and SRF Consulting) as one of the possibilities under consideration.

Meadows Park community meeting Paul Miller Design and SRF Consulting Meadows Park community meeting

Even better, there was some support for it from citizens at the small group discussions, helped along by participation from fellow CROCT members Marty Larson and Scott Klein.

Meadows Park community meeting, small group discussion Meadows Park community meeting, small group discussion Meadows Park community meeting, small group discussion

After the meeting, we had some informal discussions with Ward 2 Councilor David DeLongAt-Large Councilor Rhonda Pownell, and PRAB Chair Dale Gehring, as well as City Administrator Nick Haggenmiller, Community Planning and Development Director Chris Heineman, and Interim Public Works Director/City Engineer Brian Erickson.

The CROCT Board has not taken an official position on what we’d like to see in the way of mountain biking for the park.  But in our comments, we talked about the advantages of having:

  • a beginner/intermediate-level singletrack (multi-use) trail around the perimeter of the park
  • a bike park in one corner, with features like pump tracks, dirt jumps, and a skills course, all serving a range of abilities (progression) including a tot area
  • West Trailhead, Lebanon Hills MTB Parka pavilion area with bathrooms, changing facilities, picnic tables, grills, water fountains. See the West Trailhead facilities page for Dakota County’s Lebanon Hills MTB Park for a good example.

The next Meadows Park community meeting will be on Jan. 21.

Want more information about Meadows Park? See these documents that I extracted from the Nov. 20 PRAB meeting agenda packet:

Our presentation to the Northfield Park and Recreation Advisory Board: good vibes

CROCT presentation to March 20 Northfield Park and Recreation Advisory BoardMarty Larson and I made a brief presentation to the Northfield Park and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) last night. They seemed to like our plan to create river bottoms mountain bike trail in Sechler Park, and seemed open to exploring the possibility of a trail in Roosevelt Park and Roosevelt Ridge Park. They also wondered if Odd Fellows Park, site of a new dog park, might be a park that could accommodate both a trail and a bike park/pump track.

We were asked send a formal letter of request to the Parks staff requesting a formal agreement between CROCT and the City, starting with permission to work on a trail in Sechler Park this spring. Staff will take that request to their weekly staff Development Review Committee (DRC) meeting and then put it into an upcoming City Council meeting packet, hopefully with a recommendation that the Council direct the PRAB and the staff to work with CROCT on implementation.

Here are links to some of the maps and resources we used in our presentation:

Sechler Park

Roosevelt Park

Hauberg Woods

Small pump tracks and skills parks

Northfield Parks Resources